Statistics
What does Measles look like today?
Between 2000 and 2021 measles vaccines prevented an estimated 56 million deaths. An estimated 128 000 people died from measles in 2021, mostly children under the age of five years, despite the availability of a safe and cost-effective vaccine. Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles; one dose is about 93% effective. Vaccination costs less than US$ 1 per child. In 2022, 74% of children received both doses of the measles vaccine, and about 83% of the world's children received one dose of measles vaccine by their first birthday.
Vaccines
Is it safe do get the MMR vaccine?
Children should receive two doses of the vaccine to ensure they are immune. The first dose is usually given at 9 months of age in countries where measles is common and 12–15 months in other countries. A second dose should be given later in childhood, usually at 15–18 months. The measles vaccine is given alone or often combined with vaccines for mumps, rubella and/or varicella.
The MMR vaccine is super safe with a very low rate of adverse affects most of which do occur are made up of fever and excessive crying. Because it is a live vaccine, immunocompromised individuals may not be able to receive the vaccine due to adverse effects.
MMR and Autism
Does the MMR vaccine cause Autism?
No studies have found a link between autism and the MMR shot. In 1998, Andrew Wakefield and 12 of his colleagues published a case series in the Lancet, which suggested that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine may predispose to behavioral regression and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The experiment had a sample size of only 12 individuals and was of an uncontrolled design and speculative conclusions. The paper gained publicity and MMR vaccination rates began to drop due to the fear of autism. Almost immediately afterward, epidemiological studies were conducted and published, refuting the posited link between MMR vaccination and autism. The Lancet completely retracted the paper in 2010 admitting that several elements of the paper were factually incorrect and there were ethical violations committed related to the experiment.
Measles outbreaks in the UK in 2008 and 2009 as well as pockets of measles in the USA and Canada were attributed to the non-vaccination of children.